Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

This amendment would require the Minister, within three months of the enactment of the Bill, to lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas in regard to the feasibility of introducing paid parental leave. This is not an appropriate mechanism for dealing with this matter.

As Senators are aware, the question of paid parental leave was considered during the review of the Parental Leave Act 1998. Many of the elements of a feasibility study were addressed by the review group, taking account of equality considerations, the retention of women in the workplace and the uptake by men. Comprehensive material on a range of factors in regard to paid parental leave was documented by the group in its report, including consideration of such issues as lack of payment affecting the uptake of parental leave, the extent to which leave is taken in broken format, cost to employers, cost to employees and their children, cost to the social insurance fund and the Exchequer, cost to public sector employers, the question of whether employers, the social insurance fund or the Exchequer should bear the cost, the appropriate payment and comparative situations in other EU member states. The report was published in April 2002 and is available in the Oireachtas Library.

The next occasion for further negotiation on this issue will arise towards the end of this year during discussions on the next social partnership agreement to replace Sustaining Progress, which expires in December 2005. At that point, the key stakeholders will have an opportunity to assess the feasibility of introducing paid parental leave. A statutory obligation on the Minister to lay a report before the Oireachtas will add nothing to this process. As I said, a comprehensive report is already available which deals with the issues that the proposed feasibility report would consider. I thank the Senator for her amendment but I cannot accept it.